NAADS: Working with fellow farmers will propel you to success

Jul 18, 2012

The horticulture industry in Kasese district is growing, thanks to the creation of farmers’ group called Bukonzo Mixed Farm. This is something that other farmers can copy.

The horticulture industry in Kasese district is growing, thanks to the creation of farmers’ group called Bukonzo Mixed Farm. This is something that other farmers can copy. Farmers testified that they gain more experience as a unit than those who work as individuals. 
 
While addressing farmers and leaders of Wakiso district recently, President Yoweri Museveni called upon them to teach people in the villages the benefits of working together. He was sensitising them about the progress made under the Prosperity-For-All programme. 
 
The ugandan situation
lMost successful farmers have formed groups in which they operate for better gains. There are so many different groups that you can join as a farmer. These include cooperative unions, farmers’ groups and savings and credit cooperative organisations (SACCOS). 
 
Farmers groups have become more prominent since the National Agricultural Advisory Services programme was launched, but cooperative groups have been in existence much longer. However, cooperatives included West Mengo, Banyankore Kweterana and Bugisu Union.
 
These were multi-area cooperatives. It can be cooperation at the village level. The popularity of SACCOS has also risen in the last two years largely because of the Prosperity-for-all Programme. However, farmers have got to go a step further, even if there was no Prosperity-for-all.  
  
Take the example of Kayunga Women Empowerment Development Association. According to William Kibodhe, the patron of the women’s group, it was formed to add value to pineapples and other fruits in the country. “We realised that we could do better as a group rather than as individuals. We were producing lots of pineapples, but earning very little from them,” he explains. 
 
Cooperation or unity might be based on a collection of many enterprises or under a single enterprise. In Bushenyi, for example, tea growers formed groups that were only open to them, for example, Igara Tea Growers. Sugar-cane growers, coffee growers, cocoa growers, vanilla growers have followed suit and formed groups specifically for the enterprise they deal in. 
 
But even if you are a member of a specific enterprise producing group, it does not stop you from growing other crops. There are also groups that are not limited to specific enterprises. In Buwama, Mpigi district, there is a group called Buwama Integrated Development, which unites farmers involved in different enterprises, including banana, coffee and animals.
 
“We have been able to buy inputs that we would not be able to buy as individuals, for example, as a group, we use each season’s earnings to buy a plot for one or two of the 13 members of the group,” says David Kasozi, the chairman of the group.  

Advantages of working together
lIt leads to gainful production. Small pieces of land are added together, leading to improved quantities of production. If for, example, you are 30 members with each utilising an acre of land, by coming together, they turn into 30 acres.
 
There is increased bargaining power for your products. This is because all the farmers collect their produce and sell it in bulk. For example if you are producing eggs and a dealer wants them in bulk, you simply collect your eggs and sell them to him. 
 
Farmers enjoy the advantages of accessing more lucrative markets, because you can sell in bulk. Experience shows that negotiating as a group for a market is easier, than doing so individually. An example of this is Nyabushozi in Kiruhura were farmers have mobilised funds to set up modern dairies and another case is Bukonzo Mixed Farm. 
 
A group of farmers can collect enough money to buy agriculture implements that one cannot acquire as an individual, for example, a tractor, a mechanical sprayer or improved seeds. 
 
As a group, it is easier to access bank loans to improve your business since you have bigger security to give to the bank. Even the Government is opting to assist groups rather than individuals.     
 
It will help you share ideas on how to move grow. If you choose to operate alone, you may not effectively move these ideas to the next level. 

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